The Rolling Stones at Glasto: A metaphor for IC

Go with me on this…

Whilst musing on the sheer brilliance of last night’s Stones’ performance, it struck me that the prancing, the jazzhands, the persistent whooping audience interaction, the encore wardrobe change and the hypnotically beautiful sound of a crowd chanting classic lyrics back to the band – they could all work together as a metaphor for internal communications.

There’s certainly a lot of prancing. Mick delivered his signature moves with consistent and reliable energy. It’s fair to say that neither Keith nor Ronnie moved much. But then, this is what we’ve come to expect. I’d argue that in internal comms you often find yourself dancing alone. It doesn’t mean those around you aren’t feeling the rhythm or even marveling at your determined chicken strut, it’s just people move in their own sweet way (and in their own sweet time). If you manage to get them clapping along, you’re on to a winner.

Likewise, Jagger’s frequent (slightly irritating) ‘everybody say oowww!’ audience interactions were met with mixed response. Most hollered back for the first half of the set and then grew bored, which resulted in some awkward occasions later on where the crowd actually seemed pretty quiet and subdued all things considered. But what did our IC champ frontman do? He started to mix things up a bit, dropping the audience squeals in favour of harmonica jamming and gesturing jazz hands. Inspired.

The encore was a thing of beauty. An audience filled with renewed passion: engagement. The crowd singing back fondly remembered lyrics: 2-way dialogue. The reverberating echo of the Satisfaction riff around the pyramid stage as the band took their bows: ultimate buy in. Even the choice of encore material – ‘You can’t always get what you want’ and ‘(I can’t get no) Satisfaction’: human and relatable.

I’m going to be channeling The Stones’ IC this week. Join me?